The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday that Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin just completed building an $8 million facility in Milwaukee. The first new abortion facility in more than a decade, the newspaper reports.
“The move comes despite state Republican leaders’ efforts to limit access to the procedure,” reporter Mary Spicuzza wrote.
Heather Weininger, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life, has an important question about the new abortion facility.
“Despite constantly begging for taxpayer dollars, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin plans to open a glitzy, $8 million new facility in Milwaukee,” said Weininger in a statement Friday. “This leaves us with just one question – why does Planned Parenthood need taxpayer money, again?”
The newspaper reports that Planned Parenthood built the $8 million abortion facility using private donations. Dan Miller, Executive Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, points out, “[Planned Parenthood has] proven once again that you don’t need taxpayer funding when you have the likes of Edie Brengel- Radtke, Lynde Uihlein and Marianne Lubar offering their ‘volunteer leadership’ to help secure funds for the project.”
The new abortion facility is really just a move nine blocks away from the old facility. The building’s design is to keep their clients away from the pro-life sidewalk counselors and protesters, according to the top abortionist at the site, Kathy King. Spending $8 million just to avoid protesters is not evidence that Planned Parenthood is hurting for cash.
“It is beyond the pale that Planned Parenthood would insist they continue to need taxpayer dollars, while they pay for an $8 million facility,” Weininger said. “It is also shocking that they would blame pro-life laws for the closure of their rural facilities, while building an upscale clinic in Milwaukee’s Third Ward.”
“The opening of this facility exposes Planned Parenthood’s true colors – that they don’t care about truly serving women,” Weininger said. “Instead, they will follow the money, whether it’s from the taxpayer’s pocketbook or from exploiting women in Wisconsin’s largest city.”
The cost of the building is also reminder that Republicans were right to include in the state budget an audit of all Medicaid family planning payments to Planned Parenthood from the state. The audit is necessary to recoup overpayments from the program.
Matt Sande, legislative director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, wrote in an op-ed about the extent of the overpayment problem.
In 2012, Pro-Life Wisconsin working with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys conducted an open records request of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. The findings revealed 26 Wisconsin DHS audits uncovering $43,000 in Medicaid overbilling by Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2012.
In 2016, the DHS released another audit finding that five Planned Parenthood facilities overbilled Wisconsin’s Medicaid program $52,193 collectively in 2014 alone. Three non-Planned Parenthood family planning facilities overbilled Medicaid by a total of $11,619. Alarmingly, the overpayments were nearly 50 percent of the audited Medicaid payments to the eight clinics.
Abortion, fortunately, is on the decline in Wisconsin. With an $8 million facility to shield abortion clinic patrons from protesters, Planned Parenthood may be hoping to reverse that trend. Instead, the building should serve as a monument to the end of taxpayer subsidies for the abortion giant.
